Russian official Alexander Prokopchuk is set to become the next head of Interpol, in what The Times calls a "significant victory for the Kremlin" in spite of concerns that Moscow has been using the international policing agency to target political opponents.

Netanyahoo had worked towards the earlier ceasefire to split Gaza under Hamas from the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank under Mahmoud Abbas. That split is along the ideological line of the larger split in the Middle East between Qatar and Turkey as the supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and the absolute rules like the Saudi clown prince Mohammad bin Salman. Qatar is now financing Hamas in Gaza while the Saudis prop up Abbas.

by Eric Zuesse - Right now, we live in a monopolar world. Here is how U.S. President Barack Obama proudly, even imperially, described it when delivering the Commencement address to America’s future generals, at West Point Military Academy, on 28 May 2014: The United States is and remains the one indispensable nation. [Every other nation is therefore ‘dispensable’; we therefore now have “Amerika, Amerika über alles, über alles in der Welt”.] That has been true for the century passed and it will be true for the century to come. … America must always lead on the world stage. If we don’t, no one else will..."

Sitting alongside French President Macron during the 100th anniversary to commemorate the end of World War I, Putin and Trump stole the show in Paris...The Elysee Palace protocol was implacable. Nobody in Paris would be allowed to steal the spotlight away from the host, President Emmanuel Macron, during the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day marking the end of World War I.

With President Trump already under fire as he attended the World War I centenary commemoration events in Paris for skipping a planned visit to Belleau Wood battlefield and cemetery due to heavy rain, French President Emmanuel Macron used the ceremony`s culmination on Sunday to issue a firm condemnation of nationalism.

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump greeted one another during the World War I centenary commemorations in Paris, with the two leaders seen shaking hands and making other warm gestures during the event. Although both leaders were late to the ceremony, they appeared to be happy to see each other upon their arrival.

The Avangard is the first HGV in the world to have gone into production, as well as the first to travel at great altitude in the dense layers of the atmosphere while deftly maneuvering. According to General John Hyten, head of US Strategic Command, “We don`t have any defense that could deny the employment of such a weapon against us.”

Despite the fact that US-Russia relations have been deteriorating lately, there are no territorial, financial, or ideological contradictions between the two countries that should bring them to a massive nuclear exchange.
Hence, the nuclear war scenario could only be discussed from a technical point of view. In other words, we first of all need to describe the steps of the process and its main characters.

Venezuela has made a concerted effort to become a major gold exporter, and is engaged in certifying some 32 gold fields, and building 54 processing plants in a bid to become what Maduro said would be "the second largest gold reserve on Earth." The Venezuelan government has made an effort to reduce dependence on US-led or controlled financial institutions and instruments, including the dollar, and committed last month to trading in euros, yuan and "other convertible currencies" amid US restrictions.

Russia is the only country with which the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, which comes directly under Xi, has an institutionalized mechanism of interaction. This means that Vaino’s Chinese counterpart Li Zhanshu, member of the Politburo Standing Committee (ranked No. 3 in the leadership heirarchy) also acts as XI’s personal liaison to Russian President Vladimir Putin. This unique arrangement (for both Russia and China) underscores the exceptionally close relations between the two countries.

Today the harshest and highest level economic and energy sanctions that can be imposed on any country are being imposed unilaterally on Iran. The US establishment will try its best to bring the Islamic Republic to its knees and Tehran will do its best to cross the US minefield. Whatever the outcome, Iran will never submit to Washington’s twelve conditions.

At the end of the same week that the Trump administration announced a 30-day deadline to reach a ceasefire in Yemen, it was revealed the United Kingdom is planning to introduce a United Nations Security Council resolution that seeks to end of the war. According to a Friday ABC News report, citing diplomatic sources, the British could introduce the resolution as early as this coming week.

There were several takeaways from the recent Quadrilateral Summit in Istanbul on finding a peaceful settlement to the war in Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin convened with his counterparts from Turkey, Germany and France for a two-day summit last weekend in a convivial and constructive atmosphere. The four powers signed a communique emphasizing the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria. It was Putin who underscored the inviolability of the Syrian government of President Assad as the internationally recognized authority in the Arab country.

As the US`s impending withdrawal from the INF and continuing drumbeat of bellicose rhetoric from senior Trump administration officials strain ties between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia revealed on Friday that the two world leaders are planning to meet on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires.

[...] the Universal Postal Union (UPU), founded in 1874 in Bern, Switzerland, has been informed by Washington of the US withdrawal [...] The Trump White House is also threatening US withdrawal from the second-oldest international organization, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)

We wonder if the Saudis had never been caught in Jamal Khashoggi`s gruesome murder, would such essential stories and leaks now happening such as the below Guardian report ever see the light of day? On Tuesday The Guardian published select contents of a leaked internal United Nations document detailing a "pay to play" scheme orchestrated by Saudi Arabia.

There weren`t exactly any breakthroughs at the four-way summit involving France, Germany, Russia, and host Turkey in Istanbul on Saturday, but the event itself was a significant victory for one side in terms of optics. Says Syria expert Joshua Landis: "The real importance of France and Germany going to Turkey to meet Putin and Erdogan is that they are effectively hiving off from the US by joining the Astana process."

Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed at the end of the Istanbul quadripartite summit that the leaders of the participating states agreed on preserving the territorial integrity of Syria, and accomplishing the political settlement in accordance with Security Council resolution No.2254.

The final statement of the Istanbul quadripartite summit, which brought together the leaders of Russia, Germany, France, and Turkey, stressed commitment to the territorial integrity of Syria, and that there could be no substitute for a political solution for the crisis in it.

Trump will meet with the Russian president and hopefully address our biggest geopolitical challenge: China. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited to visit Washington in early 2019, according to John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s national security advisor.

On Wednesday a top Russian defense official warned that it`s impossible that Moscow will renegotiate the the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF), said to likely be at the top of the agenda when Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump are set to meet in Paris on November 11 on the sidelines of commemorative events of the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.

The son of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi left Saudi Arabia after having earlier been prevented from leaving the country by a travel ban. Salah Khashoggi and his family arrived in Washington on Thursday on a flight from Saudi Arabia, according to two sources close to the family, the Reuters news agency reported.

After Khashoggi himself, the main loser from the murder most foul in Istanbul is US President Donald Trump – as I predicted here weeks ago. His declaration that the Saudi cover story was “credible” as the rest of the world laughed at the “Lady MacBeth” of it merely made him ridiculous. The behavior of his own “crown prince” – his son-in-law Jared Kushner – has been more venal than comic-opera.

Totally under the radar of a news cycle consumed by the Pulp Fiction in Istanbul saga and the ever-mutating US-China trade war, leaders from no less than 51 Asian and European nations met in Brussels on Friday to talk about developing some measure of global stability.

The insanity and vileness of Western anti-Chinese propaganda used to make some of my Chinese friends cry late at night. But things are changing. The lunacy of what is said and written about China (and Russia, of course), in the US and Europe, is now clearly reflecting frustration and the bad manners of sore losers. One could almost be inclined to pity the Western empire, if only it wasn’t so violently murderous.

Today, Trump has announced that he will be doing exactly as Bolton instructed. This would be the second missile treaty between the US and Russia that America has withdrawn from since it abandoned the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002.

Nuclear Armageddon is on the agenda. Failing to understand the present moment is going to be based on a misread of the situation right now in the Russian and American world. Failing to understand what certain very big statements being made at this time actually mean, and what they are in response to, will leave anyone very confused.

...We may never know the nature of Haley’s purported ‘glamour’ at the U.N., but we certainly know that, during her relatively brief stint, Haley has further diminished her country’s struggling reputation, entrenching U.S. isolation in the world’s most vital international political body.

While China builds roads, rail, pipelines, airports, seaports, and factories across Africa, the United States finds itself resigned to selling weapons and stirring up conflicts between and within African states to disrupt the rise of the continent independent of Western hegemony.
Part of stirring up conflict involves political subversion. In Uganda, the US is propping up an opposition leader who even at the most basic, superficial level fails to conceal his allegiance to and dependence on Washington.

“The Ukrainian authorities are not just leading the situation into a deadlock, they are pursuing an anti-state and anti-national policy,” the Russian leader said, speaking at the Valdai Club plenary session in the Russian southern city of Sochi. He then compared Kiev’s actions to the policy of Saakashvili, whose military forces attacked the self-proclaimed Republic of South Ossetia back in 2008.

Trump appears to act in the interests of multipolarity, whether or not these are conscious decisions. Certainly all the members of his administration continue act along the lines of ‘business as usual’ – carrying forward the old Cold War mentality and attitude towards international relations.